Alleged smuggling kingpin and head of the Yuan Hua Group Lai Changxing will have the hearing of his appeal against the Canadian immigration court's decision to keep him and his wife Tsang Mingna in detention brought forward at the Federal Court on Thursday.

The couple were originally due to have their appeal heard at the immigration court on December 21 but they sought to take their case to the higher federal level, where it will be decided if they should be kept in detention pending a hearing of Lai's claims to political asylum.

Lai's lawyer, Darryl Larson, appeared in Federal Court yesterday and sought leave for a review of the couple's detention order. Judge Doug Campbell allowed the application and adjourned the case to December 14. The lawyer will ask the court to declare Lai's immigration arrest warrant void as authorities failed to give sound reasons for the move.